Wednesday, August 19, 2015

on happiness and swimming

One of my big takeaways from the book, The Happiness Project, by Gretchen Rubin, was to think of things that made me happy as a child, and to try to incorporate more of them into my life as an adult. From the time I was 10 until the end of high school, I was on a swim team. It was something I really liked. (Not the racing, though. Just the thought of stepping on the block and waiting for the gun to go off turns my stomach.) I liked the repetitive nature of swimming laps. I liked being in my own little world, with minimal distractions. It was just me, my foggy goggles, and the water. I realized I missed it. I went back to swimming laps a few times last fall, but I am more committed now.

So once a week, you can find me at the pool. I get there in the dark, and as I swim back and forth, over and over, the sky gradually lightens. When I head home, there is a bounce in my step, a clearness in my mind, and a weariness in my muscles that feels really refreshing.

It is easy to forget about these things that used to be part of me in the midst of having and raising babies. And that's ok, I think. There is a time and a season for everything, you know? I feel like I'm at a point in my life where I can pick up some hobbies or activities that I had left behind. And Gretchen was right, doing these things that used to make me happy still does.

5 comments:

This is why I loved that book Stephanie-it is easy to lose track of some of the fun things we like to do when our days are busy doing for others-it brought me to a great self-awareness of what indeed "makes me happy".

I LOVE this. Thanks for sharing. You got me thinking about some of my own things - thankfully many of those things I continued all of my life, even through raising a child, but there are other things that I'm pondering now and that's great.

I loved this post! Such a good reminder. My oldest is 10; when I was her age my very favorite thing to do was run as fast as I could down the soccer field. I never scored a goal in years and years of playing but I was the fastest kid on my all-boys team. I started running again after I'd had a few babies and now I'm training for my second marathon. It feels good to do something I loved so much as a child, but I'd never consciously thought of it that way until I read your post! Thank you for sharing this!

I love this and I need to read that book! My kids are all about your kids ages and I have felt like I can do more things I used to. Like this summer we played on a Coed softball league once a week (I played as a teenager) and it made me so happy!

hi, i'm stephanie

i am a wife, a mother, a homemaker, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a collector of white cake plates, a seamstress, and a want-to-be runner. i live in arizona, where the sun always shines, and the winters are a dream. i blog about my life at home. it's a good life, and i am happy.